Örnsköldsvik Municipality

Örnsköldsvik Municipality (Swedish: Örnsköldsviks kommun, Southern Sami: Orrestaaren tjïelte) is one of Sweden's 290 municipalities, in Västernorrland County in northern Sweden. Its seat is in the town Örnsköldsvik. The present municipality was created in 1971 by the amalgamation of the City of Örnsköldsvik with seven former rural municipalities.

Örnsköldsvik Municipality
Örnsköldsviks kommun
Municipality
Örnsköldsvik former city hall, now a school.
Örnsköldsvik former city hall, now a school.
Coat of arms of Örnsköldsvik Municipality
Coat of arms
Coordinates: 63°17′N 18°44′E
CountrySweden
CountyVästernorrland County
SeatÖrnsköldsvik
Area
[1]
 • Total8,428.78 km2 (3,254.37 sq mi)
 • Land6,376.46 km2 (2,461.96 sq mi)
 • Water2,052.32 km2 (792.41 sq mi)
 Area as of 1 January 2014.
Population
 (31 December 2021)[2]
 • Total55,823
 • Density8.8/km2 (23/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeSE
ProvinceÅngermanland
Municipal code2284
Density is calculated using land area only.

Geography

Örnsköldsvik is situated near the northern end of the "High Coast", which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has the third longest suspension bridge in Europe, the Höga Kusten Bridge. The city is located around 100 km south of Umeå and 550 km north of Stockholm. The area is dominated by forest, but it also contains minor areas of agriculture.

Localities

The municipality of Örnsköldsvik consists of a number of parishes, within which are towns and villages. The population is distributed as follows:

Parish (town) number of citizens (31 December 2005):

  • Örnsköldsvik: 9,123
  • Arnäs: 7,653
  • Anundsjö: 4,100
    • Bredbyn: 1,216
    • Mellansel: 821
  • Skorped: 667
  • Sidensjö: 1,192
  • Nätra: 5,402
    • Bjästa: 1,777
    • Köpmanholmen: 1,263
  • Själevad: 18,960
    • Domsjö
    • Gullänget
    • Sund
    • Gene
  • Mo: 1,309
  • Grundsunda: 3,214
  • Gideå: 1,215
  • Björna: 1,586
  • Trehörningsjö: 522
  • Gottne: 250

Total: 54,943

Transportation

Main road transportations are provided by the European route E4. The Örnsköldsvik Airport provides daily flights to and from the Stockholm-Arlanda Airport courtesy of Höga Kusten Flyg, and also charter flights to Turkey courtesy of Pegasus Airlines. Railway transportation will in the future be provided by high-speed railway Botniabanan, which is currently under construction. There is also a harbour, where cargo ships load and unload timber and other merchandise. In North America the town is known for its excellent hockey players, a number of whom play with the NHL.

Recreation and sports

Due to the hilly surroundings, hiking and exploring the scenery of the High Coast is popular in the area. In the wintertime, skiing is popular. Both cross-country skiing, alpine skiing and even ski jumping is practiced almost in the downtown area. Since Örnsköldsvik is a coastal town, there are also beaches near town, as well as campsites. There's also an indoor water park called Paradisbadet, with one of the longest water slides in Europe.

Sports is also popular, the main spectator sport in town is ice hockey, with the local team Modo Hockey in Swedish Hockey League, the main league for ice hockey in Sweden. The local football teams are not quite as successful, but still pretty popular, on the men's side especially the teams Friska Viljor FC from central Örnsköldsvik and Anundsjö IF from Bredbyn outside of town, and women's Själevads IK. A couple floorball teams from town have also had some success.

Notable people

Örnsköldsvik is the birthplace of many world-famous ice hockey players, including Nils Johansson, Per Svartvadet, Peter Forsberg, Markus Näslund, Niklas Sundström, Andreas Salomonsson, Magnus Wernblom, Mattias Timander, Victor Hedman, Tobias Enström, and the twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin. The Sedin twins were top players for the Vancouver Canucks, and Hedman plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Many stars from hockey's previous generation, including Anders Hedberg, Thomas Gradin, and Anders Kallur were also either Örnsköldsvik natives (Hedberg) and/or played in the town for the Modo Hockey club.

Notable residents
  • Markus Näslund, and twin brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin, are all from Örnsköldsvik Municipality; Naslund played for the Vancouver Canucks from 1996 to 2008 and his number was retired by the team in honour of his many accomplishments in December 2010, while the Sedins are captain and deputy captain of the team in 2010–11.

Twin towns – sister cities
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Sweden

Örnsköldsvik is twinned with:[3]

Etymology
  • The original town was named after County Governor Per Abraham Örnsköld
  • The name Örnsköldsvik is sometimes unofficially translated into English as Eagleshieldsbay.

See also

References
  1. "Statistiska centralbyrån, Kommunarealer den 1 januari 2014" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. 1 January 2014. Archived from the original (Microsoft Excel) on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  2. "Folkmängd i riket, län och kommuner 31 december 2021" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. 22 February 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  3. "Föreningen Norden - 70 år". allehanda.se (in Swedish). Allehanda. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
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